Wanting to capitalize on its already proficient delivery service, Amazon is now selling 14,000 non-perishable food and household items, from popcorn to green tea, in small and bulk quantities. Amazon said Monday that more than 200,000 customers visited the grocery store site during the two months of its test launch.

"The store was created because our customers requested it," said Tracy Ogden, an Amazon spokeswoman.

The company, which this month also launched toy and baby stores, will work to avoid the mistakes of former high-profile Internet grocery services such as Kozmo.com and Webvan, which grew too fast and went under during the dot-com bust of 2001.

Ogden said the food store is the 34th store under the Amazon umbrella. Amazon, which started as a Web bookstore in 1995, also has opened a health and personal care, beauty and emergency preparedness stores in the past few years.

To bring in customers, Amazon is offering grocery shoppers a $10 instant rebate on purchases of $49 or more, and the company is offering free shipping through its "super saver shipping" and Amazon Prime programs.

Customers may need those incentives, because they are not necessarily getting a bargain.

Unlike Amazon's book and DVD stores, where items can be found at a discount, food products are not that cheap.

Ogden acknowledged that is a challenge.

"One of our top priorities is to make the prices much more competitive," she said.

A scan of Amazon's grocery products showed that items such as cereal were the same price or more expensive than at Seattle-area grocery stories, and some local stores had much lower prices with loss-leader discounts.

Fred Meyer, for example, this week was selling a 100-ounce bottle of All brand detergent for $3.99, half the price of the same size product at Amazon.

Ogden declined to say how Amazon would compete against traditional grocery stores or companies, such as Albertsons and Safeway, which already have online shopping. Many local grocers also offer perishable goods.

Cherie Myers, a Safeway spokeswoman, said she wasn't even aware that Amazon had entered the online market. She said her company offers online service in selected areas, including Seattle.

While the market has plenty of sellers, one retail food consultant said it's not too difficult to get a slice of the business.

Bill Bishop, of Willard Bishop Consulting near Chicago, said the supermarket business is at least a $500 billion industry and online sales are at least $10 billion. He believes Amazon can make a run at other companies because it already has a strong brand and Amazon can leverage its shipping system to integrate groceries with books, DVDs and CDs.

"I think they will do just fine," he said. "The question is, are they going to be serious about it or is it a side bet? Nothing happens automatically."

Ogden said Amazon's grocery service would appeal to stay-at-home moms and working parents who want the convenience of ordering goods online. She also said the online grocery store appeals to a broad audience because more than half of the items are "organic, natural or green."

Terry Drayton, who ran Seattle-based Internet grocery provider HomeGrocer.com before it was sold to Webvan, said Amazon wouldn't be competing against local grocery chains. He said Amazon's target market would be rural shoppers who want to stock up on non-perishable items.

"I would be stunned if they are selling a whole lot of dried good grocery items in Seattle or Portland," said Drayton, who was in partnership with Amazon in HomeGrocer.com.

Drayton also said Amazon is wise to stay out of the perishable food business. He said that would require a completely different infrastructure that Amazon does not have. He also said delivering non-perishable goods means Amazon customers do not have to be at home to receive them.

"It makes sense to do shampoo if you are going from books to CDs to DVDs. It's not a whole lot different. They have such a huge customer base," Drayton said. "It's selling more stuff to existing customers, which should be easy."